A polinização como fator de produção na cultura do morango.

A polinização por abelhas é um fator de produção na cultura do morangueiro e para garantir produtividade e qualidade nas lavouras torna-se essencial: a) conhecer os fatores que determinam a dependência das cultivares a esse tipo de polinização, b) saber identificar a deficiência de polinização, e c) aplicar práticas culturais e de gestão da propriedade que favoreçam a presença das abelhas na lavoura.bitstream/item/177654/1/COMUNICADO-TECNICO-56-Malagodi-Braga2018.pd

Porque a ONU criou esta data dando destaque para as abelhas?

Resumo: A maioria das plantas cultivadas depende da polinização animal para a produção comercial ou dela se beneficiam em termos de qualidade e produtividade, sendo as abelhas os polinizadores efetivos da maioria dos cultivos. Inúmeros trabalhos publicados, porém, têm demonstrado que a alteração e a destruição de habitats naturais, juntamente com outros fatores como os agrotóxicos, estão reduzindo a diversidade e a abundância de abelhas no mundo e, consequentemente, a produtividade agrícola.bitstream/item/220538/1/Malagodi-ONU-abelhas-2020.pd

Artigo: Vespas e abelhas na agricultura e em ambientes urbanos

Resumo: Os insetos conhecidos popularmente como abelhas e vespas ou marimbondos apresentam grande diversidade e abundância, com espécies bastante comuns em diversos ambientes. Essa diversidade de espécies se manifesta por meio da sua aparência corporal - diversidade de cores, formatos, tamanhos – e diferentes comportamentos. Os adultos, de diversas espécies, se alimentam do néctar e do pólen das flores e, como as abelhas, podem atuar como polinizadores, também contribuindo com a reprodução das plantas. Na agricultura, embora a contribuição estimada das vespas (4,4%) na polinização de cultivos seja bastante inferior à das abelhas (78,9%), elas desempenham um outro papel importantíssimo como predadoras: controlam as populações de outros insetos, impedindo que o aumento dessas populações causem danos consideráveis aos cultivos e prejuízos aos agricultores.bitstream/item/220540/1/Malagodi-Braga-vespas-abelhas-2020.pd

Mtss1 promotes cell-cell junction assembly and stability through the small GTPase Rac1

Cell-cell junctions are an integral part of epithelia and are often disrupted in cancer cells during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is a main driver of metastatic spread. We show here that Metastasis suppressor-1 (Mtss1; Missing in Metastasis, MIM), a member of the IMD-family of proteins, inhibits cell-cell junction disassembly in wound healing or HGF-induced scatter assays by enhancing cell-cell junction strength. Mtss1 not only makes cells more resistant to cell-cell junction disassembly, but also accelerates the kinetics of adherens junction assembly. Mtss1 drives enhanced junction formation specifically by elevating Rac-GTP. Lastly, we show that Mtss1 depletion reduces recruitment of F-actin at cell-cell junctions. We thus propose that Mtss1 promotes Rac1 activation and actin recruitment driving junction maintenance. We suggest that the observed loss of Mtss1 in cancers may compromise junction stability and thus promote EMT and metastasis

Discovery of optical pulsations in V2116 Ophiuchi/GX 1+4

We report the detection of pulsations with $\sim 124$ s period in V2116 Oph, the optical counterpart of the low-mass X-ray binary GX 1+4. The pulsations are sinusoidal with modulation amplitude of up to 4% in blue light and were observed in ten different observing sessions during 1996 April-August using a CCD photometer at the 1.6-m and 0.6-m telescopes of Laborat\'orio Nacional de Astrof\'{\i}sica, in Brazil. The pulsations were also observed with the $UBVRI$ fast photometer. With only one exception the observed optical periods are consistent with those observed by the BATSE instrument on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory at the same epoch. There is a definite correlation between the observability of pulsations and the optical brightness of the system: V2116~Oph had $R$ magnitude in the range $15.3-15.5$ when the pulsed signal was detected, and $R = 16.0-17.7$ when no pulsations were present. The discovery makes GX 1+4 only the third of $\sim 35$ accretion-powered X-ray pulsars to be firmly detected as a pulsating source in the optical. The presence of flickering and pulsations in V2116 Oph adds strong evidence for an accretion disk scenario in this system. The absolute magnitude of the pulsed component on 1996 May 27 is estimated to be $M_V \sim -1.5$. The implied dimensions for the emitting region are 1.1 R_{\sun}, 3.2 R_{\sun}, and 7.0 R_{\sun}, for black-body spectral distributions with $T = 10^5$ K, $2 \times 10^4$ K, and $1 \times 10^4$ K, respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures in PostScript, latex, accepted for publication on the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Empirical evidence for discrete neurocognitive subgroups in bipolar disorder: clinical implications

Background. Recent data suggest trait-like neurocognitive impairments in bipolar disorder (BPD), with deficits about 1 S.D. below average, less severe than deficits noted in schizophrenia. The frequency of significant impairment in BPD is approximately 60%, with 40% of patients characterized as cognitively spared. This contrasts with a more homogeneous presentation in schizophrenia. It is not understood why some BPD patients develop deficits while others do not. Method. A total of 136 patients with BPD completed the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and data were entered into hierarchical cluster analyses to: (1) determine the optimal number of clusters (subgroups) that fit the sample; and (2) assign subjects to a specific cluster based on individual profiles. We then compared subgroups on several clinical factors and real-world community functioning. Results. Three distinct neurocognitive subgroups were found: (1) an intact group with performance comparable with healthy controls on all domains but with superior social cognition; (2) a selective impairment group with moderate deficits on processing speed, attention, verbal learning and social cognition and normal functioning in other domains; and (3) a global impairment group with severe deficits across all cognitive domains comparable with deficits in schizophrenia. Conclusions. These results suggest the presence of multiple cognitive subgroups in BPD with unique profiles and begin to address the relationships between these subgroups, several clinical factors and functional outcome. Next steps will include using these data to help guide future efforts to target these disabling symptoms with treatment

Monogamy of Quantum Discord by Multipartite Correlations

We introduce a monogamy inequality for quantum correlations, which implies that the sum of pairwise quantum correlations is upper limited by the amount of multipartite quantum correlations as measured by the global quantum discord. This monogamy bound holds either for pure or mixed quantum states provided that bipartite quantum discord does not increase under discard of subsystems. We illustrate the monogamy behavior for multipartite pure states with Schmidt decomposition as well as for W-GHZ mixed states. As a by-product, we apply the monogamy bound to investigate residual multipartite correlations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: published versio